Methods and apparatus to perform symbol-based watermark detection

ABSTRACT

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to perform symbol-based watermark detection. An example method includes, in response to determining that a first rate of occurrence of a first potential symbol equals a second rate of occurrence of a second potential symbol, a first accumulated signal to noise ratio value corresponding to occurrences of the first potential symbol value is determined. A second accumulated signal to noise ratio value corresponding to occurrences of the second potential symbol value is determined. One of the first potential symbol value or the second potential symbol value having a greatest accumulated signal to noise ratio value as the likely symbol value is selected. The likely symbol value is concatenated with other likely symbol values corresponding to other symbols of the watermark to detect the watermark.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to media monitoring, and, moreparticularly, to methods and apparatus to perform symbol-based watermarkdetection.

BACKGROUND

Monitoring companies desire knowledge on how users interact with mediadevices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, smart televisions, etc.To facilitate such monitoring, monitoring companies enlist panelists andinstall meters at the media presentation locations of those panelists.The meters monitor media presentations and transmit media monitoringinformation to a central facility of the monitoring company. Such mediamonitoring information enables the media monitoring companies to, amongother things, monitor exposure to advertisements, determineadvertisement effectiveness, determine user behavior, identifypurchasing behavior associated with various demographics, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example system constructed in accordancewith the teachings of this disclosure for performing symbol-basedwatermark detection.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the example meter of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example watermark that may be identifiedby the example meter of FIGS. 1 and/or 2.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an audio waveform and correspondingportions of time within the audio waveform in which portions of theexample watermark of FIG. 3 are encoded.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating information componentsrepresented by the different symbols of the example watermark of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the meter of FIG. 1 toperform symbol-based watermark detection.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example meter ofFIGS. 1 and/or 2 to transmit media monitoring information to the examplecentral facility of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is an example data table representing symbol data that may bestored in the example symbol buffer of FIG. 2.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example meter ofFIGS. 1 and/or 2 to analyze the symbol buffer for identification of themost likely symbol.

FIG. 10 is an example data table representing summarized signal to noiseratio values that may be used to perform signal to noise ratioarbitration for selection of the most likely symbol.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example processor platform capable ofexecuting the machine-readable instructions of FIGS. 6, 7, and/or 9 toperform symbol-based watermark detection.

The figures are not to scale. Wherever possible, the same referencenumbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying writtendescription to refer to the same or like parts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Traditionally, audience measurement entities (also referred to herein as“ratings entities” or “monitoring companies”) determine demographicreach for advertising and media programming based on registered panelmembers. That is, an audience measurement entity enrolls people thatconsent to being monitored into a panel. During enrollment, the audiencemeasurement entity receives demographic information from the enrollingpeople so that subsequent correlations may be made betweenadvertisement/media exposure to those panelists and differentdemographic markets.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example audience measurement systemconstructed in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure toperform symbol based watermark detection. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 1, an example media presentation environment 102 includes examplepanelists 104, 106, an example media presentation device 110 thatreceives media from an example media source 112, and an example meter114. The example meter 114 identifies the media presented by the examplemedia presentation device 110 and reports media monitoring informationto an example central facility 190 of an example audience measuremententity via an example gateway 140 and an example network 180. In someexamples, the meter 114 is referred to as an audience measurementdevice.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 1, the example media presentationenvironment 102 is a room of a household (e.g., a room in a home of apanelist, such as the home of a “Nielsen family”). In the illustratedexample of FIG. 1, the example panelists 104, 106 of the household havebeen statistically selected to develop media ratings data (e.g.,television ratings data) for a population/demographic of interest.People become panelists via, for example, a user interface presented ona media device (e.g., via the media presentation device 110, via awebsite, etc.). People become panelists in additional or alternativemanners such as, for example, via a telephone interview, by completingan online survey, etc. Additionally or alternatively, people may becontacted and/or enlisted using any desired methodology (e.g., randomselection, statistical selection, phone solicitations, Internetadvertisements, surveys, advertisements in shopping malls, productpackaging, etc.). In some examples, an entire family may be enrolled asa household of panelists. That is, while a mother, a father, a son, anda daughter may each be identified as individual panelists, their viewingactivities typically occur within the family's household.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 1, one or more panelists 104, 106 ofthe household have registered with an audience measurement entity (e.g.,by agreeing to be a panelist) and have provided their demographicinformation to the audience measurement entity as part of a registrationprocess to enable associating demographics with media exposureactivities (e.g., television exposure, radio exposure, Internetexposure, etc.). The demographic data includes, for example, age,gender, income level, educational level, marital status, geographiclocation, race, etc., of a panelist. While the example mediapresentation environment 102 is a household in the illustrated exampleof FIG. 1, the example media presentation environment 102 canadditionally or alternatively be any other type(s) of environments suchas, for example, a theater, a restaurant, a tavern, a retail location,an arena, etc.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 1, the example media presentationdevice 110 is a television. However, the example media presentationdevice 110 can correspond to any type of audio, video and/or multimediapresentation device capable of presenting media audibly and/or visually.In some examples, the media presentation device 110 (e.g., a television)may communicate audio to another media presentation device (e.g., anaudio/video receiver) for output by one or more speakers (e.g., surroundsound speakers, a sound bar, etc.). As another example, the mediapresentation device 110 can correspond to a multimedia computer system,a personal digital assistant, a cellular/mobile smartphone, a radio, ahome theater system, stored audio and/or video played back from amemory, such as a digital video recorder or a digital versatile disc, awebpage, and/or any other communication device capable of presentingmedia to an audience (e.g., the panelists 104, 106).

The media presentation device 110 receives media from the media source112. The media source 112 may be any type of media provider(s), such as,but not limited to, a cable media service provider, a radio frequency(RF) media provider, an Internet based provider (e.g., IPTV), asatellite media service provider, etc., and/or any combination thereof.The media may be radio media, television media, pay per view media,movies, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), satellite television (TV),Internet radio, satellite radio, digital television, digital radio,stored media (e.g., a compact disk (CD), a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD),a Blu-ray disk, etc.), any other type(s) of broadcast, multicast and/orunicast medium, audio and/or video media presented (e.g., streamed) viathe Internet, a video game, targeted broadcast, satellite broadcast,video on demand, etc. For example, the media presentation device 110 cancorrespond to a television and/or display device that supports theNational Television Standards Committee (NTSC) standard, the PhaseAlternating Line (PAL) standard, the Système Électronique pour Couleuravec Mémoire (SECAM) standard, a standard developed by the AdvancedTelevision Systems Committee (ATSC), such as high definition television(HDTV), a standard developed by the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB)Project, etc. Advertising, such as an advertisement and/or a preview ofother programming that is or will be offered by the media source 112,etc., is also typically included in the media.

In examples disclosed herein, an audience measurement entity providesthe meter 114 to the panelist 104, 106 (or household of panelists) suchthat the meter 114 may be installed by the panelist 104, 106 by simplypowering the meter 114 and placing the meter 114 in the mediapresentation environment 102 and/or near the media presentation device110 (e.g., near a television set). In some examples, more complexinstallation activities may be performed such as, for example, affixingthe meter 114 to the media presentation device 110, electronicallyconnecting the meter 114 to the media presentation device 110, etc. Theexample meter 114 detects exposure to media and electronically storesmonitoring information (e.g., a code detected with the presented media,a signature of the presented media, an identifier of a panelist presentat the time of the presentation, a timestamp of the time of thepresentation) of the presented media. The stored monitoring informationis then transmitted back to the central facility 190 via the gateway 140and the network 180. While the media monitoring information istransmitted by electronic transmission in the illustrated example ofFIG. 1, the media monitoring information may additionally oralternatively be transferred in any other manner, such as, for example,by physically mailing the meter 114, by physically mailing a memory ofthe meter 114, etc.

The meter 114 of the illustrated example combines audience measurementdata and people metering data. For example, audience measurement data isdetermined by monitoring media output by the media presentation device110 and/or other media presentation device(s), and audienceidentification data (also referred to as demographic data, peoplemonitoring data, etc.) is determined from people monitoring dataprovided to the meter 114. Thus, the example meter 114 provides dualfunctionality of an audience measurement meter that is to collectaudience measurement data, and a people meter that is to collect and/orassociate demographic information corresponding to the collectedaudience measurement data.

For example, the meter 114 of the illustrated example collects mediaidentifying information and/or data (e.g., signature(s), fingerprint(s),code(s), tuned channel identification information, time of exposureinformation, etc.) and people data (e.g., user identifiers, demographicdata associated with audience members, etc.). The media identifyinginformation and the people data can be combined to generate, forexample, media exposure data (e.g., ratings data) indicative ofamount(s) and/or type(s) of people that were exposed to specificpiece(s) of media distributed via the media presentation device 110. Toextract media identification data, the meter 114 of the illustratedexample of FIG. 1 monitors for watermarks (sometimes referred to ascodes) included in the presented media. In examples disclosed herein, awatermark includes a sequence of symbols, with each symbol carrying aportion of media-identifying information which, when concatenated, forma complete watermark. In existing watermarking systems, when any symbolis indecipherable, the entire watermark is discarded. Such an approachcan result in missed watermarks. In examples disclosed herein,symbol-based approaches are used to ensure that while one or moresymbols may be indecipherable, that likely symbol data can be used toform a complete watermark.

Depending on the type(s) of metering the meter 114 is to perform, themeter 114 can be physically coupled to the media presentation device 110or may be configured to capture audio emitted externally by the mediapresenting device 110 (e.g., free field audio) such that direct physicalcoupling to the media presenting device 110 is not required. Forexample, the meter 114 of the illustrated example may employnon-invasive monitoring not involving any physical connection to themedia presentation device 110 (e.g., via Bluetooth® connection, WIFI®connection, acoustic sensing via one or more microphone(s) and/or otheracoustic sensor(s), etc.) and/or invasive monitoring involving one ormore physical connections to the media presentation device 110 (e.g.,via USB connection, a High Definition Media Interface (HDMI) connection,an Ethernet cable connection, etc.).

In examples disclosed herein, to monitor media presented by the mediapresentation device 110, the meter 114 of the illustrated example sensesaudio (e.g., acoustic signals or ambient audio) output (e.g., emitted)by the media presentation device 110. For example, the meter 114processes the signals obtained from the media presentation device 110 todetect media and/or source identifying signals (e.g., audio watermarks)embedded in portion(s) (e.g., audio portions) of the media presented bythe media presentation device 110. To, for example, sense ambient audiooutput by the media presentation device 110, the meter 114 of theillustrated example includes an example acoustic sensor (e.g., amicrophone). In some examples, the meter 114 may process audio signalsobtained from the media presentation device 110 via a direct cableconnection to detect media and/or source identifying audio watermarksembedded in such audio signals.

To generate exposure data for the media, identification(s) of media towhich the audience is exposed are correlated with people data (e.g.,presence information) collected by the meter 114. The meter 114 of theillustrated example collects inputs (e.g., audience identification data)representative of the identities of the audience member(s) (e.g., thepanelists 104, 106). In some examples, the meter 114 collects audienceidentification data by periodically and/or a-periodically promptingaudience members in the media presentation environment 102 to identifythemselves as present in the audience. In some examples, the meter 114responds to predetermined events (e.g., when the media presenting device110 is turned on, a channel is changed, an infrared control signal isdetected, etc.) by prompting the audience member(s) to self-identify.The audience identification data and the exposure data can then becomplied with the demographic data collected from audience members suchas, for example, the panelists 104, 106 during registration to developmetrics reflecting, for example, the demographic composition of theaudience. The demographic data includes, for example, age, gender,income level, educational level, marital status, geographic location,race, etc., of the panelist.

In some examples, the meter 114 may be configured to receive panelistinformation via an input device such as, for example, a remote control,an Apple® iPad®, a cell phone, etc. In such examples, the meter 114prompts the audience members to indicate their presence by pressing anappropriate input key on the input device. The meter 114 of theillustrated example may also determine times at which to prompt theaudience members to enter information to the meter 114. In someexamples, the meter 114 of FIG. 1 supports audio watermarking for peoplemonitoring, which enables the meter 114 to detect the presence of apanelist-identifying metering device in the vicinity (e.g., in the mediapresentation environment 102) of the media presentation device 110. Forexample, the acoustic sensor of the meter 114 is able to sense exampleaudio output (e.g., emitted) by an example panelist-identifying meteringdevice, such as, for example, a wristband, a cell phone, etc., that isuniquely associated with a particular panelist. The audio output by theexample panelist-identifying metering device may include, for example,one or more audio watermarks to facilitate identification of thepanelist-identifying metering device and/or the panelist 104 associatedwith the panelist-identifying metering device.

The meter 114 of the illustrated example communicates with a remotelylocated central facility 190 of the audience measurement entity. In theillustrated example of FIG. 1, the example meter 114 communicates withthe central facility 190 via a gateway 140 and a network 180. Theexample meter 114 of FIG. 1 sends media identification data and/oraudience identification data to the central facility 190 periodically,a-periodically and/or upon request by the central facility 190.

The example gateway 140 of the illustrated example of FIG. 1 can beimplemented by a router that enables the meter 114 and/or other devicesin the media presentation environment (e.g., the media presentationdevice 110) to communicate with the network 180 (e.g., the Internet.)

In some examples, the example gateway 140 facilitates delivery of mediafrom the media source(s) 112 to the media presentation device 110 viathe Internet. In some examples, the example gateway 140 includes gatewayfunctionality such as modem capabilities. In some other examples, theexample gateway 140 is implemented in two or more devices (e.g., arouter, a modem, a switch, a firewall, etc.). The gateway 140 of theillustrated example may communicate with the network 126 via Ethernet, adigital subscriber line (DSL), a telephone line, a coaxial cable, a USBconnection, a Bluetooth connection, any wireless connection, etc.

In some examples, the example gateway 140 hosts a Local Area Network(LAN) for the media presentation environment 102. In the illustratedexample, the LAN is a wireless local area network (WLAN), and allows themeter 114, the media presentation device 110, etc., to transmit and/orreceive data via the Internet. Alternatively, the gateway 140 may becoupled to such a LAN.

The network 180 of the illustrated example can be implemented by a widearea network (WAN) such as the Internet. However, in some examples,local networks may additionally or alternatively be used. Moreover, theexample network 180 may be implemented using any type of public orprivate network such as, but not limited to, the Internet, a telephonenetwork, a local area network (LAN), a cable network, and/or a wirelessnetwork, or any combination thereof.

The central facility 190 of the illustrated example is implemented byone or more servers. The central facility 190 processes and stores datareceived from the meter(s) 114. For example, the example centralfacility 190 of FIG. 1 combines audience identification data and programidentification data from multiple households to generate aggregatedmedia monitoring information. The central facility 190 generates reportsfor advertisers, program producers and/or other interested parties basedon the compiled statistical data. Such reports include extrapolationsabout the size and demographic composition of audiences of content,channels and/or advertisements based on the demographics and behavior ofthe monitored panelists.

As noted above, the meter 114 of the illustrated example provides acombination of media metering and people metering. The meter 114 of FIG.1 includes its own housing, processor, memory and/or software to performthe desired media monitoring and/or people monitoring functions. Theexample meter 114 of FIG. 1 is a stationary device disposed on or nearthe media presentation device 110. To identify and/or confirm thepresence of a panelist present in the media presentation environment102, the example meter 114 of the illustrated example includes adisplay. For example, the display provides identification of thepanelists 104, 106 present in the media presentation environment 102.For example, in the illustrated example, the meter 114 displays indicia(e.g., illuminated numerical numerals 1, 2, 3, etc.) identifying and/orconfirming the presence of the first panelist 104, the second panelist106, etc. In the illustrated example, the meter 114 is affixed to a topof the media presentation device 110. However, the meter 114 may beaffixed to the media presentation device in any other orientation, suchas, for example, on a side of the media presentation device 110, on thebottom of the media presentation device 110, and/or may not be affixedto the media presentation device 110. For example, the meter 114 may beplaced in a location near the media presentation device 110.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example implementation of theexample meter 114 of FIG. 1. The example meter 114 of FIG. 2 includes anexample audio receiver 220, an example media identifier 230, an exampleaudience measurement data controller 250, an example data store 255, anexample network communicator 260, and an example people identifier 270.In examples disclosed herein, the media identifier 230 includes anexample symbol decoder 234, an example symbol buffer 238, an examplesymbol buffer analyzer 242, and an example watermark constructor 246.

The example audio receiver 220 of the illustrated example of FIG. 2 is amicrophone. The example audio receiver 220 receives ambient sound (e.g.,free field audio) including audible media presented in the vicinity ofthe meter 114. Alternatively, the audio receiver 220 may be implementedby a line input connection. The line input connection may allow anexternal microphone to be used with the meter 114 and/or, in someexamples, may enable the meter 114 to be directly connected to an outputof a media presentation device (e.g., an auxiliary output of atelevision, an auxiliary output of an audio/video receiver of a homeentertainment system, etc.) Advantageously, the meter 114 is positionedin a location such that the audio receiver 220 receives ambient audioproduced by the television and/or other devices of the homeentertainment system with sufficient quality to identify media presentedby the media presentation device 110 and/or other devices of the mediapresentation environment 102. For example, in examples disclosed herein,the meter 114 may be placed on top of the television, secured to thebottom of the television, etc.

The example media identifier 230 of the illustrated example of FIG. 2analyzes audio received via the audio receiver 220 and identifies themedia being presented. The example media identifier 230 of theillustrated example outputs an identifier of the media to the audiencemeasurement data controller 250. In examples disclosed herein, the mediaidentifier 230 utilizes audio watermarking techniques to identify themedia. Audio watermarking is a technique used to identify media, such astelevision broadcasts, radio broadcasts, advertisements (televisionand/or radio), downloaded media, streaming media, prepackaged media,etc. Existing audio watermarking techniques identify media by embeddingone or more audio codes (e.g., one or more watermarks), such as mediaidentifying information and/or one or more identifier(s) that may bemapped to media identifying information, into an audio and/or videocomponent of the media. In some examples, the audio or video componentof the media is selected to have a signal characteristic sufficient tohide the watermark. As used herein, the terms “code” and/or “watermark”are used interchangeably, and are defined to mean any identificationinformation (e.g., an identifier) that may be inserted or embedded inthe audio and/or video of media (e.g., a program or advertisement) forthe purpose of identifying the media or for another purpose such astuning (e.g., a packet identifying header). As used herein “media”refers to audio and/or visual (still or moving) content and/oradvertisements. In some examples, to identify watermarked media, thewatermark(s) are extracted and used to access a table of referencewatermarks that are mapped to media identifying information.

As noted above, a watermark includes a sequence of symbols, each symbolcarrying a portion of media-identifying information which, whenconcatenated, form a complete watermark. An example arrangement ofsymbols within a watermark is discussed below in connection with theillustrated example of FIG. 3. In existing watermarking systems, whenany symbol within the watermark is indecipherable, the entire watermarkis discarded. Such an approach can result in missed watermarks. Inexamples disclosed herein, symbol-based approaches are used to ensurethat while one or more symbols may be indecipherable, that likely symboldata can be determined and used to form a complete watermark.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 2, the example media identifierincludes the example symbol decoder 234, the example symbol buffer 238,the example symbol buffer analyzer 242, and the example watermarkconstructor 246.

The example symbol decoder 234 of FIG. 2 analyzes the audio received viathe audio receiver 220 and identifies a symbol within a watermark. Asdiscussed below in connection with FIGS. 3, 4, and/or 5, an examplewatermark includes seven symbols presented sequentially through time.Also, in some examples, successive watermarks embedded in the audio maycontain some symbols that are the same, and some symbols that changefrom watermark to watermark. During each of the symbol times, theexample symbol decoder 234 analyzes the audio to extract a valuereflecting the corresponding symbol. The symbol decoder 234 alsodetermines a signal to noise ratio of the corresponding symbol. Thesignal to noise ratio identifies a strength of the detected value of thesymbol. Detected values that receive a high signal to noise ratio (e.g.,the signal is easily distinguishable from noise) are generally morereliable than values that receive a low signal to noise ratio (e.g., thesignal is not easily distinguishable from noise). The value of thesymbol and the corresponding signal to noise ratio are stored in thesymbol buffer 238.

The example symbol buffer 238 may be any device for storing data, suchas, for example, flash memory, magnetic media, optical media, etc.Furthermore, the data stored in the symbol buffer 238 may be in any dataformat, such as, for example, binary data, comma delimited data, tabdelimited data, structured query language (SQL) structures, etc. Whilethe symbol buffer 238 is illustrated as a single memory in theillustrated example, the symbol buffer 238 may be implemented by anynumber and/or type(s) of memories. The example symbol buffer 238 storesvalues indicative of the signal-to-noise ratios corresponding to therespective detected symbols. In the illustrated example of FIG. 2, theexample symbol buffer 238 includes six buffer positions. That is, thesymbol buffer 238 stores six historic symbol values and correspondingsignal-to-noise ratios for each detected symbol. In the illustratedexample of FIG. 2, the symbol values and their correspondingsignal-to-noise ratios are stored in a same memory element. However, thesymbol values and their corresponding signal-to-noise ratios may bestored in separate memory locations (e.g., in separate memory devices,in separate memory addresses, etc.)

The example symbol buffer analyzer 242 of the illustrated example ofFIG. 2 analyzes values stored in the symbol buffer 238 to identify themost likely value of each symbol. In some examples, the example symbolbuffer analyzer 242, on a symbol-by-symbol basis, inspects the symbolvalues to determine which value occurred with the highest frequency. Insome examples, the symbol buffer analyzer further analyzes thesignal-to-noise ratios associated with symbol values stored in thebuffer to identify strongest symbol value. Furthermore, the symbolbuffer analyzer may perform pattern analysis on the symbol values of thebuffer to, for example, identify when a symbol value was likely to havechanged throughout the history recorded in the symbol buffer. Forexample, the symbol value stored in the first position of the symbolbuffer 238 may be expected to be different from the value stored in thesecond position of the buffer when, for example, the values are expectedto change over time. For each symbol, the example symbol buffer analyzer242 provides the selected symbol value to the example watermarkconstructor 248.

The example watermark constructor 248 of the illustrated example of FIG.2 takes each of the symbol values received from the symbol bufferanalyzer 242 and concatenates the symbol values to form a completewatermark. In some examples, no watermark can be created because, forexample, the symbol buffer analyzer 242 does not provide all of thesymbol components of the watermark (e.g., despite a best-effort, thesymbol may still be indecipherable). In such an example, the watermarkmay be discarded. The example watermark constructor 248 provides thecompleted watermark to the audience measurement data controller 250.

The example audience measurement data controller 250 of the illustratedexample of FIG. 2 receives media identifying information (e.g., a code,a signature, etc.) from the media identifier 230 and audienceidentification data from the people identifier 270, and stores thereceived information in the data store 255. The example audiencemeasurement data controller 250 periodically and/or a-periodicallytransmits, via the network communicator 260, the audience measurementinformation stored in the data store 255 to the central facility 190 foraggregation and/or preparation of media monitoring reports.

The example data store 255 of the illustrated example of FIG. 2 may beimplemented by any device for storing data, such as, for example, flashmemory, magnetic media, optical media, etc. Furthermore, the data storedin the example data store 255 may be in any data format, such as, forexample, binary data, comma delimited data, tab delimited data,structured query language (SQL) structures, etc. In the illustratedexample, the example data store 255 stores media identifying informationcollected by the media identifier 230 and audience identification datacollected by the people identifier 270. In some examples, the exampledata store 255 additionally stores panelist demographic information suchthat received user identifiers of the audience measurement data can betranslated into demographic information prior to transmission to thecentral facility 190.

The example people identifier 270 of the illustrated example of FIG. 2determines audience identification data representative of the identitiesof the audience member(s) (e.g., panelists) present in the mediapresentation environment 102. In some examples, the people identifier270 collects audience identification data by periodically and/ora-periodically prompting audience members in the media presentationenvironment 102 to identify themselves as present in the audience.Panelists may identify themselves by, for example, pressing a button ona remote, speaking their name, etc. In some examples, the peopleidentifier 270 prompts the audience member(s) to self-identify inresponse to one or more predetermined events (e.g., when the mediapresentation device 110 is turned on, a channel is changed, an infraredcontrol signal is detected, etc.). The people identifier 270 providesthe audience identification data to the audience measurement datacontroller such that the audience measurement data can be correlatedwith the media identification data to facilitate an identification ofwhich media was presented to which audience member.

The example network communicator 260 of the illustrated example of FIG.2 transmits audience measurement information provided by the audiencemeasurement data controller 250 (e.g., data stored in the data store255) to the central facility 190 of the audience measurement entity. Inthe illustrated example, the network communicator 260 is implemented byan Ethernet port that communicates via an Ethernet network (e.g., alocal area network (LAN)). In some examples, the network communicator260 facilitates wireless communication via a WiFi network hosted by theexample gateway 140 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example watermark 300 that may beidentified by the example meter 114 of FIGS. 1 and/or 2. The examplewatermark 300 of the illustrated example of FIG. 3 includes sevensymbols 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360, 370. However, in some examples,the example watermark 300 may include fewer and/or additional symbols.In the illustrated example, each symbol includes seven bits (e.g., witheach bit being a binary one or zero). However, each symbol may take onvalues that represent any other length and/or size, and/or type(s) ofinformation. For example, each symbol may represent one bit ofinformation, 10 bits of information, 100 bits of information, etc.Furthermore, in the illustrated example of FIG. 3, each symbolrepresents the same number of bits. However, in some examples, differentsymbols may represent different amounts of information. For example, thefirst symbol 310 may represent six bits of information, while the secondsymbol 320 may represent twenty bits of information. In general, smallersymbol sizes may be expected to be more easily distinguished, as thereare less data points where an error may occur.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an example audio waveform 400 andcorresponding portions of time within the audio waveform 400 in whichportions of the example watermark of FIG. 3 are encoded. The examplewaveform 400 of the illustrated example of FIG. 4 is presented along ahorizontal time axis 405, and a vertical amplitude axis 407. The exampleaudio waveform 400 of the illustrated example of FIG. 4 includes a firstexample watermark 408 and the beginning portions of a second examplewatermark 480 transmitted over the time axis 405. In practice, thewatermark(s) may be preceded by a preamble to, for example, identify thetype of watermark about to be conveyed and/or properties of thewatermark. For example, watermark 408 (also referred to as watermark Nin FIG. 4) is preceded by a first example preamble 409, and thewatermark 480 (also referred to as watermark N+1 in FIG. 4) is precededby a second example preamble 482. In the illustrated example of FIG. 4,the watermark 408 and its corresponding preamble 409 are represented byapproximately 1.6 seconds of the audio waveform 400. In examplesdisclosed herein, each watermark begins two seconds apart from eachother. That is, the beginning of the watermark 480 starts two secondsafter the beginning of the watermark 408. As noted in connection withFIG. 3, each watermark includes seven symbol segments. In examplesdisclosed herein, each symbol segment and preamble are presented for 192milliseconds.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 4, the preamble 409 of the firstwatermark 408 is transmitted. Next, the first symbol 410 of the firstwatermark 408 is transmitted, followed sequentially by the second symbol420, the third symbol 430, the fourth symbol 440, the fifth symbol 450,the sixth symbol 460, and the seventh symbol 470. After a delay betweensymbols (approximately one third of a duration of a symbol,approximately 64 milliseconds, etc.), a second preamble 482corresponding to the second watermark 480 is transmitted. The secondpreamble 482 is followed by the first symbol of the second watermark484, the second symbol of the second watermark 486, etc. Watermarks arecontinually repeated, when included in the presented media.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating example information componentsrepresented by the different symbols of the example watermark 300 ofFIG. 3. As noted in connection with FIG. 3, each example watermarkincludes seven symbols that each encode seven bits of information. Intotal, the example watermark 300 includes forty-nine bits ofinformation. In the illustrated example of FIG. 5, these forty-nine bitsinclude a sixteen bit station identifier 510, followed by a reserved bit520, followed by a two bit distribution channel identifier 530, followedby a one bit daylight savings time flag 540, followed by a twenty eightbit timestamp 550.

The example station identifier 510 identifies the station over which themedia is broadcast. For example, the station identifier 510 may identifya television station (e.g., channel 7, National Broadcasting Company(NBC), etc.). In the illustrated example of FIG. 5, the stationidentifier 510 spans over the first symbol 310 (seven bits), the secondsymbol 320 (seven bits), and the first two bits of the third symbol 330.However, the station identifier 510 may be positioned in any otherlocation(s) of the watermark 300.

The example reserved bit 520 is positioned as the third bit of the thirdsymbol 330. However, the example reserved bit 520 may be positioned inthe other location of the watermark. Moreover, in some examples, thereserved bit 520 may be omitted and/or additional bits of the watermark300 may be reserved.

The example two bit distribution channel identifier 530 is representedas the fourth and fifth bits of the third example symbol 330 in theillustrated example of FIG. 5. The example two bit distribution channelidentifier 530 identifies the type of distribution channel over whichthe media is being transmitted for presentation. For example, thedistribution channel identifier 530 may identify that the media is beingbroadcast over a live broadcast system (e.g., a cable televisionnetwork, an IPTV network, etc.) In some examples, the distributionchannel identifier may identify that the media is being distributed in astored format (e.g., in a DVD and/or Blu-ray). In some examples thedistribution channel identifier may identify that the media is beingstreamed (e.g., transmitted via the Internet).

The example one bit daylight savings time identifier 540 is representedas the sixth bit of the third symbol 330. However, the example one bitdaylight savings time identifier 540 may be located in any otherposition of the watermark. In the illustrated example, the daylightsavings time identifier 540 identifies whether daylight savings time isactive in the region over which the media is being broadcast. Includingthe daylight savings time identifier 540 assists in the identificationof the media based on the station identifier 510 and the timestamp 550.For example, while a first program may be presented at a first timeidentified by the timestamp 550, a second, different, program may bepresented at a second time one hour later than the first time. Thedaylight savings time identifier 540 enables identification of whichmedia was presented.

The example timestamp 550 of the illustrated example of FIG. 5 isrepresented as the seventh bit of the third symbol 330, the fourthsymbol 340, the fifth symbol 350, the sixth symbol 360, and the seventhsymbol 370. In the illustrated example, the timestamp is a twenty ninebit representation of the time at which the media was broadcast. Thetimestamp 550, in combination with the station identifier 510, enablesthe audience measurement entity to identify the media. In theillustrated example of FIG. 5, the higher order bits (e.g., bitsrepresenting the year, month, and/or day of the timestamp), arerepresented in the third symbol 330, fourth symbol 340, and fifth symbol350. The lower order bits of the timestamp (e.g., bits representing theminutes and/or seconds of the timestamp) are represented in the sixthsymbol 360 and the seventh symbol 370. As such the higher order bits(e.g., the third symbol 330, the fourth symbol 340, and/or the fifthsymbol 350) are not expected to change frequently (e.g., from onewatermark to the next watermark transmitted approximately two secondslater). However, the lower order symbol (e.g., the sixth symbol 360 andthe seventh symbol 370) are expected to change at a more frequent pace.For example, the seventh symbol 370, which represents the minutes andseconds portion of the timestamp is expected to change upon everysuccessive watermark. As such, between subsequent watermarks, theseventh symbol 370 is not expected to be the same. As a result,inspection of the symbol to identify repeating values, is not likely toprovide a repeated result. Instead, the values of the seventh symbol 370are likely to be changed at a regular cadence. To account for suchchanges, pattern matching may be applied to identify the likely value ofthe seventh symbol 370 of the watermark 300.

While an example manner of implementing the example meter 114 of FIG. 1is illustrated in FIG. 2, one or more of the elements, processes and/ordevices illustrated in FIG. 2 may be combined, divided, re-arranged,omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way. Further, theexample audio receiver 220, the example media identifier 230, theexample symbol decoder 234, the example symbol buffer 238, the examplesymbol buffer analyzer 242, the example watermark constructor, theexample audience measurement data controller 250, the example data store255, the example people identifier 270, the example network communicator260, and/or, more generally, the example meter 114 of FIGS. 1 and/or 2may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or anycombination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example,any of the example audio receiver 220, the example media identifier 230,the example symbol decoder 234, the example symbol buffer 238, theexample symbol buffer analyzer 242, the example watermark constructor,the example audience measurement data controller 250, the example datastore 255, the example people identifier 270, the example networkcommunicator 260, and/or, more generally, the example meter 114 of FIGS.1 and/or 2 could be implemented by one or more analog or digitalcircuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), applicationspecific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s)(PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)). Whenreading any of the apparatus or system claims of this patent to cover apurely software and/or firmware implementation, at least one of theexample audio receiver 220, the example media identifier 230, theexample symbol decoder 234, the example symbol buffer 238, the examplesymbol buffer analyzer 242, the example watermark constructor, theexample audience measurement data controller 250, the example data store255, the example people identifier 270, the example network communicator260, and/or, more generally, the example meter 114 of FIGS. 1 and/or 2is/are hereby expressly defined to include a tangible computer readablestorage device or storage disk such as a memory, a digital versatiledisk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. storing thesoftware and/or firmware. Further still, the example meter 114 of FIGS.1 and/or 2 may include one or more elements, processes and/or devices inaddition to, or instead of, those illustrated in FIG. 2, and/or mayinclude more than one of any or all of the illustrated elements,processes and devices.

Flowcharts representative of example machine readable instructions forimplementing the example meter 114 of FIGS. 1 and/or 2 are shown inFIGS. 6, 7, and/or 9. In these examples, the machine readableinstructions comprise a program(s) for execution by a processor such asthe processor 1112 shown in the example processor platform 1100discussed below in connection with FIG. 11. The program may be embodiedin software stored on a tangible computer readable storage medium suchas a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, a digital versatile disk(DVD), a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associated with the processor 1112,but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively beexecuted by a device other than the processor 1112 and/or embodied infirmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although the example program(s)is/are described with reference to the flowchart(s) illustrated in FIGS.6, 7, and/or 9, many other methods of implementing the example meter 114may alternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of theblocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may bechanged, eliminated, or combined.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIGS. 6, 7, and/or 9 may beimplemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machinereadable instructions) stored on a tangible computer readable storagemedium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory(ROM), a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a cache, arandom-access memory (RAM) and/or any other storage device or storagedisk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extendedtime periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarilybuffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, theterm tangible computer readable storage medium is expressly defined toinclude any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage diskand to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. Asused herein, “tangible computer readable storage medium” and “tangiblemachine readable storage medium” are used interchangeably. Additionallyor alternatively, the example processes of FIGS. 6, 7, and/or 9 may beimplemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machinereadable instructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/ormachine readable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, aread-only memory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, arandom-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk inwhich information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended timeperiods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering,and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the termnon-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to includeany type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and toexclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. As usedherein, when the phrase “at least” is used as the transition term in apreamble of a claim, it is open-ended in the same manner as the term“comprising” is open ended.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions 600 that may be executed to implement the meter 114 ofFIGS. 1 and/or 2 to perform symbol-based watermark detection. Theexample program of FIG. 6 begins when the example symbol decoder 234initializes a buffer position. (Block 602). The buffer positionidentifies one or more at memory addresses within the symbol buffer 238in which symbol values are to be stored.

The example symbol decoder 234 accesses audio received via the audioreceiver 220. (Block 605). The symbol decoder 234 determines whether awatermark preamble has been received. (Block 610). As shown in theillustrated example of FIG. 4, a watermark preamble (e.g., the watermarkpreamble 409) precedes the watermark symbols (e.g., the symbols 410,420, 430, 440, 450, 460, 470) and is used to, for example, identify abeginning of a transmission of the watermark 408 and/or a format inwhich the watermark 408 is to be transmitted. If no message preamble isreceived (Block 610 returns a result of NO), the example symbol decoder234 continues to monitor the audio received via the audio receiver 220to identify a watermark preamble. (Block 610).

Upon detection of the watermark preamble (Block 610 returns a result ofYES), the example symbol decoder 234 initializes a symbol index to one.(Block 615). The example symbol index is used to identify which symbolof the watermark is being received. The example symbol decoder 234determines a symbol value and a signal-to-noise ratio of the identifiedsymbol value. (Block 620). In the illustrated example, the examplesymbol value and/or signal-to-noise ratio may be identified by, forexample, performing frequency analysis on the received audio to extractthe symbol value. When used in connection with the buffer position(initialized in connection with Block 602), the symbol index enablesidentification of a memory address within the symbol buffer 238 in whichthe symbol value and/or signal to noise ratio is to be stored. Asdiscussed below in connection with FIG. 8, the identified symbol valueand the identified signal to noise ratio may be stored in a sharedmemory space. However, in some examples, the symbol value and theidentified signal to noise ratio may be stored in separate memory spaces(e.g., in separate sectors of the buffer memory, in a separate memorydevice, etc.). The example symbol decoder 234 stores the symbol valueand/or the signal-to-noise ratio in the symbol buffer 238. (Block 625).

The example symbol decoder 234 identifies whether the symbol index isgreater than or equal to a symbol index threshold. (Block 630). In theillustrated example of FIG. 6, the symbol index threshold corresponds tothe number of expected symbols. In examples disclosed herein, becauseseven symbols are used to construct the watermark, the symbol indexthreshold is seven. However, any other symbol index threshold mayadditionally or alternatively be used. In some examples, the symbolindex threshold may be communicated in the watermark preamble.

If the symbol index is not greater than or equal to the symbol indexthreshold (Block 630 returns a result of NO), additional symbols areexpected to be received for the watermark. The example symbol decoder234 increments the symbol index. (Block 635). The example symbol decoder234 then waits for the next symbol. (Block 637). As described inconnection with the illustrated example of FIG. 4, there may be a smalldelay (e.g., 8 milliseconds), between each symbol. The example symboldecoder waits the appropriate amount of time until the next symbol isexpected to be transmitted. In some examples, the symbol decoder 234 maywait until a midpoint within the expected time of transmission of thesymbol to ensure that adjoining symbols do not interfere with the symboldata to be identified. The example process of blocks 620, 625, 630, 635,637 is then repeated until the symbol index is greater than or equal tothe symbol index threshold. That is, the process is repeated until allsymbols of the current watermark being detected have had their symbolvalues and corresponding signal-to-noise ratios added to the symbolbuffer 238.

If the symbol index is greater than or equal to the symbol indexthreshold (Block 630 returns a result of YES), the example symboldecoder 234 increments the buffer position that was initialized in block602. (Block 640). In examples disclosed herein, six possible bufferpositions are used. As such, when the buffer position is to beincremented to be greater than six, in some examples, the bufferposition may be reinitialized to a starting value (e.g., one).

In the illustrated example of FIG. 6, blocks 602 through 640, and/or,more generally, block 644, represent operations that receive incomingaudio and store symbol values in the symbol buffer 238. Block 646represents operations that analyze the symbol buffer 238 to identify amost likely symbol value for each symbol. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 6, block 646 is serially performed after the symbol index exceedsthe symbol index threshold. In examples disclosed herein, the symbolindex threshold is expected to be exceeded approximately every twoseconds (corresponding to the period of time between sequentialwatermarks). As a result, analysis of the symbol values stored in thesymbol buffer 238 (Block 646) is also performed approximately every twoseconds. However, block 644 and block 646 may be operated in any otherfashion. For example, in some examples, the symbol collection of blocks644 may be operated in parallel with the symbol analysis of blocks 646.In some examples, the symbol analysis of block 646 may be performed at afrequency different than the frequency at which the block 644 isexpected to be completed. For example, the symbol analysis of block 646may be operated every 100 milliseconds, whereas the symbol collection ofblock 644 is expected to be completed approximately every two seconds,corresponding to the length of time used to transmit complete watermark.

To perform the signal symbol buffer analysis of block 646, the examplesymbol buffer analyzer 242 resets the symbol index to one. (Block 650).The example symbol buffer analyzer 242 analyzes the symbol buffer 238 todetermine a most likely value for the symbol identified by the symbolindex. (Block 655). In the illustrated example of FIG. 6, the symbolbuffer analyzer 242 analyzes each of the buffer positions (e.g., abuffer history representing previously collected symbols), to identifythe most likely symbol value. In examples disclosed herein, because sixbuffer positions are provided for each watermark symbol, and eachwatermark corresponds to approximately two seconds, approximately twelveseconds of history are analyzed to identify the most likely symbolvalue. In effect, a sliding window is created where, for example, themost recent twelve seconds of symbol data are analyzed every twoseconds.

In some examples, the symbol buffer analyzer 242 analyzes, for a givensymbol, a number of positions within the buffer that represents lessthan the entire buffer history. For example, while the buffer historymay include six positions for each symbol, the symbol buffer analyzer242 may analyze the four most recent positions (corresponding to themost recent eight seconds of symbol data). Such an approach may beuseful when, for example, the four most recent positions do not providea conclusive most likely value for a symbol, such that the additionaltwo positions may be consulted to assist in the determination of themost likely value for the symbol (e.g., for arbitration of a tie).Further details concerning operations for analyzing the symbol buffer238 to determine the most likely value for the symbol identified by thesymbol index are disclosed in connection with FIG. 9.

The example symbol buffer analyzer 242 determines whether the symbolindex is greater than or equal to a symbol index threshold (Block 660).As noted above in connection with block 630, the symbol index thresholdand the examples disclosed herein is seven, corresponding to the numberof symbols included in the watermark. However, in some examples,different symbol index thresholds may be used, corresponding todifferent numbers of symbols included in the watermark. If the symbolindex is not greater than or equal to the symbol index threshold (Block660 returns a result of NO), the example symbol buffer analyzer 242increments the symbol index. (Block 662). The operations of blocks 655,660, and 662 are repeated until all symbols which make up the watermarkhave been analyzed.

If the symbol index is greater than or equal to the symbol indexthreshold (Block 660 returns a result of YES), the example symbol bufferanalyzer 242 determines whether all of the symbol indices return a validvalue. (Block 665). In some examples, despite a best effort to identifythe most likely value, no value may be identified. No value may beidentified when, for example, no watermark is being transmitted, a noisyenvironment causes the value of the symbol to be indecipherable, etc. Ifone or more of the symbol indices do not return a valid value (Block 665returns a result of NO), control proceeds to block 602, where the bufferposition is reinitialized and the symbol collection of block 644continues.

If all symbol indices return a valid value (Block 665 returns a resultof YES), the example watermark constructor 246 concatenates the symbolvalues to form a complete watermark. (Block 670). The example watermarkconstructor 246 then provides the watermark to the audience measurementdata controller 250 such that the watermark can be recorded in the datastore 255. (Block 675). Control then proceeds to block 602, where thebuffer position is reinitialized, and the symbol collection of block 644continues.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions 700 that may be executed to implement the example meter 114of FIGS. 1 and/or 2 to transmit media monitoring information to theexample central facility 190 of FIG. 1. The example program 700 of FIG.7 begins at block 710 when the audience measurement data controller 250determines whether a data storage threshold has been exceeded (Block710). In the illustrated example, the threshold is a time limitspecifying that monitoring data is transmitted once per day.Additionally or alternatively, any other periodic and/or aperiodicapproach to transmitting monitoring information from the meter 114 maybe used. For example, the data threshold might be based on an amount ofmonitoring information stored in the data store 255.

If the threshold has not been exceeded (Block 710 returns a result ofNO) the audience measurement data controller 250 continues to determinewhether the monitoring data threshold has been exceeded. When themonitoring data threshold has been exceeded (Block 710 returns a resultof YES), the audience measurement data controller 250 transmits, via thenetwork communicator 260, the stored monitoring information to thecentral facility 190. In the illustrated example, the networkcommunicator 260 transmits the stored monitoring information via gateway140 and the network 180. However, in some examples, the networkcommunicator 260 transmits the stored network communications via a localconnection such as, for example, a serial connection, a universal serialbus (USB) connection, a Bluetooth connection, etc. When the networkcommunicator 260 transmits via the local connection, the network meter114 may be physically moved to a location of the central facility 190by, for example, physically mailing the meter 114, etc.

FIG. 8 is an example data table 800 representing symbol data that may bestored in the example symbol buffer 238 of FIG. 2. In the illustratedexample of FIG. 8, the data table 800 includes seven columns 810, 820,830, 840, 850, 860, 870 corresponding to the number of symbols withinthe watermark 300. For example, the first column 810 corresponds to thefirst symbol 310 of the watermark 300 of FIG. 3, the second column 820corresponds to the second symbol 310 of the watermark 300, the thirdcolumn 830 corresponds to the third symbol 330 of the watermark 300, thefourth column 840 corresponds to the fourth symbol 340 of the watermark300, the fifth column 850 corresponds to the fifth symbol 350 of thewatermark 300, the sixth column 860 corresponds to the sixth symbol 360of the watermark 300, and the seventh column 870 corresponds to theseventh symbol 370 of the watermark 300. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 8, the data table 800 includes six rows corresponding to bufferpositions within the symbol buffer 238. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 8, the first row 801 corresponds to the first buffer position, thesecond row 802 corresponds to the second buffer position, the third row803 corresponds to the third buffer position, the fourth row 804corresponds to the fourth buffer position, the fifth row 805 correspondsto the fifth buffer position, and 806 corresponds to the sixth bufferposition. In the illustrated example of FIG. 8, seven columnscorresponding to seven symbols, and six rows corresponding to six bufferpositions are used. However, any other number of rows, columns, symbols,and/or buffer positions may additionally or alternatively be used.Moreover, while in the illustrated example symbols correspond tocolumns, and buffer positions correspond to rows, the data table 800 maybe organized in any other fashion.

Each example cell of the data table 800 includes data corresponding tothe symbol value and the signal-to-noise ratio stored by the symboldecoder 234 of FIG. 2 for the particular symbol occurrencescorresponding to that cell. In the illustrated example of FIG. 8, symbolvalues are shown in a hexadecimal format. As described above inconnection with FIG. 5, each symbol of the examples disclosed hereinincludes seven bits of information. As a result, there are 128 possiblevalues for each symbol. In a hexadecimal format, the values “0x00”through “0x7F” are used to represent the 128 possible values. However,any other data format may additionally or alternatively be used such as,for example, a binary format, a decimal format, and ASCII format, etc.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 8, the signal-to-noise ratios arerepresented using decibel (dB) values. A larger decibel value (e.g., 15dB or greater) indicates that the symbol was strong as compared to othernoise identified went attempting to detect the symbol. In contrast, alower decibel value (e.g., less than 15 dB) indicates that the symbolwas weak compared to other noise identified when attempting to detectthe symbol. For example, the example data table 800 of the illustratedexample of FIG. 8 indicates that a symbol value of “0x5D” having asignal-to-noise ratio of 6 dB is stored in a cell identified by thesecond column 820 (corresponding to the second symbol 320) and thesecond row 802 (corresponding to the second buffer position).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions 655 that may be executed to implement the example meter 114of FIGS. 1 and/or 2 to analyze the symbol buffer 238 for identificationof the most likely symbol value for a given symbol. The example program655 of the illustrated example of FIG. 9 begins when the symbol bufferanalyzer 242 is to analyze the symbol buffer 238 to determine the mostlikely value for the symbol identified by the symbol index maintained inconnection with block 646 of the illustrated example of FIG. 6.

The example symbol buffer analyzer 242 begins by identifying thebuffered symbol values stored in the symbol buffer 238 for the symbolindex. (Block 905). For example, if the symbol index to be analyzed wereone, the example symbol buffer analyzer 242 would identify the bufferedvalues stored in the first example column 810 of the example data table800 of FIG. 8. The example symbol buffer analyzer 242 determines whetherany of the buffered values have an occurrence rate greater than a firstoccurrence threshold. (Block 910). In the illustrated example of FIG. 9,the first occurrence threshold requires that the symbol value have anoccurrence rate greater than 50% (e.g., the symbol value represents amajority of the symbol values contained in the buffer for the givensymbol index, corresponding to four or more matching values). If anyvalue has an occurrence rate greater than the first occurrence threshold(Block 910 returns a result of YES), the example symbol buffer analyzer242 returns the value having the occurrence rate greater than the firstoccurrence threshold. (Block 915). The process of FIG. 9 is thencompleted, but may be repeated in accordance with the proceduresdescribed in connection with FIG. 6.

In connection with the illustrated example of FIG. 8, in the firstsymbol column 810, the value “08” appears four times (e.g., anoccurrence rate greater than 50% of the time). As a result, the value“08” will be selected and returned by the symbol buffer analyzer 242because the value “08” has the occurrence rate greater than the firstoccurrence threshold (e.g., Block 910 will return a result of YES).Likewise, in the example data table 800 of FIG. 8, column 850(corresponding to the fifth symbol) indicates that the value “03” has anoccurrence rate greater than the first occurrence threshold. The value“03” will be returned by the example process of FIG. 9 (e.g., becauseBlock 910 will return a result of YES).

If the symbol buffer analyzer 242 determines that no symbol value forthe symbol index has an occurrence rate greater than the firstoccurrence threshold (e.g., Block 910 returns a result of NO), theexample symbol buffer analyzer 242 determines whether any symbol valueshave an occurrence rate greater than or equal to a second occurrencethreshold. (Block 920). In examples disclosed herein, the secondoccurrence threshold is 40% (corresponding to two or more matchingvalues). However, any other second occurrence threshold may additionallyor alternatively be used. In examples disclosed herein, because thesecond occurrence threshold does not require that the symbol represent amajority of the symbol values, it is possible that multiple symbolvalues may have an occurrence rate that meets the second occurrencethreshold. If the symbol buffer analyzer 242 determines that any symbolvalues for the symbol index have an occurrence rate greater than orequal to the second occurrence threshold (Block 920 returns a result ofYES), the symbol buffer analyzer 242 determines whether just a singlesymbol value is returned. (Block 925). If a single symbol value isreturned, the example symbol buffer analyzer 242 returns the singlesymbol value having the occurrence rate greater than or equal to thesecond occurrence threshold as the symbol value for the current symbolindex. (Block 930.) The process of FIG. 9 is then completed, but may berepeated in accordance with the procedures described in connection withFIG. 6.

In connection with the illustrated example of FIG. 8, in the secondsymbol column 820, the value “6D” does not have an occurrence rategreater than the first occurrence threshold (e.g., 50%), but does havean occurrence rate greater than or equal to the second occurrencethreshold (e.g., 40%). Consequently, while the value “6D” does notappear a majority of the time, no other values match it in the number ofoccurrences. Because no other value also meets the second occurrencethreshold (Block 920 returns a result of YES, and Block 925 returns aresult of YES), the example symbol buffer analyzer 242 returns the value“6D”. (Block 930). Likewise, in the fourth symbol column 840 of theillustrated example of FIG. 8, the value “2F” does not meet the firstoccurrence threshold (Block 910 returns a result of NO), but does meetthe second occurrence threshold (Block 920 returns a result of YES), andonly a single value (e.g., “2F”) meets the second occurrence threshold(Block 925 returns a result of YES), such that the symbol bufferanalyzer 242 will return the value “2F”. (Block 930).

In contrast to the example second column 820 the illustrated example ofFIG. 8, the third example column 830 of the illustrated example of FIG.8 includes two values (e.g., the value “45” and the value “46”) thatmeet the second occurrence threshold (Block 920 returns a result of YES,but Block 925 returns a result of NO). In such a scenario, arbitrationis required to select the most likely value. In the illustrated exampleof FIG. 9, the symbol buffer analyzer 242 accumulates (e.g., sums) thesignal-to-noise ratios associated with each value. (Block 945). In theillustrated example of FIG. 10, accumulated (or summed) symbol to noiseratios by value are shown on a symbol-by-symbol basis. The examplesymbol buffer analyzer 242 identifies the value with the greatestaccumulated signal-to-noise ratio. (Block 950). The symbol bufferanalyzer 242 then determines whether the symbol value with the greatestaccumulated signal-to-noise ratio has an accumulated signal-to-noiseratio greater than the other accumulated signal-to-noise ratios by morethan a difference threshold. (Block 955). In examples disclosed herein,the difference threshold is 6 dB. However, any other differencethreshold may additionally or alternatively be used.

When, for a given symbol index, two different symbol values appear withan occurrence rate greater than or equal to the second occurrencethreshold (Block 920 returns a result of YES, but block 925 returns aresult of NO), and have accumulated signal-to-noise ratios that are notdifferent by more than a threshold (Block 955 returns a result of NO),the symbol buffer analyzer 242 does not return a symbol value for thegiven symbol index. (Block 965). The process of FIG. 9 is thencompleted, but may be repeated in accordance with the proceduresdescribed in connection with FIG. 6. In examples disclosed herein, nosymbol value is returned because it is not possible to distinguishbetween the stored symbol values for the given symbol index withreasonable certainty. In some examples, further analysis mayadditionally be performed to attempt to identify the most likely symbolvalue such as, for example, performing the procedure of FIG. 9 usingadditional buffer positions. For example, the most recent four bufferpositions may initially be used but, upon block 955 returning a resultof NO, the process of FIG. 9 may be performed using increasing amountsof buffer positions (e.g., five, six, etc.).

In contrast, when two different symbol values appeared with anoccurrence rate greater than or equal to the second occurrence thresholdfor a given symbol index (Block 920 returns a result of YES, but block925 returns a result of NO), but the accumulated signal-to-noise ratioof one symbol value is greater than the accumulated signal-to-noiseratio(s) of the other symbol values (Block 955 returns a result of YES),it is possible to distinguish between the potential symbol values suchthat the symbol value with the greatest accumulated signal-to-noiseratio can be returned by the symbol buffer analyzer 242 for the givensymbol index. (Block 960). The process of FIG. 9 is then completed, butmay be repeated in accordance with the procedures described inconnection with FIG. 6.

Returning to block 920, in some examples, the symbol buffer analyzer 242may determine that no symbol values have an occurrence rate greater thanor equal to the second occurrence threshold for a given symbol index.(Block 920 may return result of NO). In such an example, the examplesymbol buffer analyzer 242 analyzes the buffered symbol values todetermine whether a pattern of symbol values can be identified. (Block970). For example, the seventh symbol is expected to include a minutesand/or seconds portion of a time stamp. Because, for example, eachwatermark is to be transmitted approximately every two seconds, it isexpected that the seventh symbol will be incremented by two upon eachsuccessive watermark. As a result, in the illustrated example of FIG. 8,the seventh column 870 includes data that increments by a value of twoin each buffer position. In block 970 of FIG. 9, a pattern of valuesincrementing by two is used. However, any other pattern may additionallyor alternatively be used. If the symbol buffer analyzer 242 identifiesthat a pattern can be identified in the buffered values (Block 970returns a result of YES), the symbol buffer analyzer 242 returns themost recently buffered value in the pattern. (Block 975). For example,in the illustrated example of FIG. 8, the value “0x0B” is returnedbecause, for example, the sixth row 806 was the most recent bufferposition to be populated. However, any other approach to selecting asymbol value within the pattern to be returned for a given symbol indexmay additionally or alternatively be used. For example, the value “0x09”corresponding to the fifth row 805 may be returned because it has thestrongest signal-to-noise ratio.

In some examples, the example symbol buffer analyzer 242 may determinethat no symbol values have an occurrence rate greater than or equal tothe second occurrence threshold for a given symbol index (Block 920returns a result of NO), and no pattern may be identified in thebuffered values (Block 970 also returns a result of NO). In such anexample, control proceeds to block 945 where signal-to-noise ratios areaccumulated by their associated value. In connection with theillustrated example of FIG. 8, the sixth column 860 corresponding to thesixth symbol does not include a value having an occurrence rate greaterthan or equal to the second occurrence threshold, and no pattern can beidentified. The signal-to-noise ratios of the sixth symbol areaccumulated by their associated value (Block 945), and the symbol valuewith the greatest accumulated signal-to-noise ratio is selected (Block950), assuming that the accumulated signal-to-noise ratio of that valueis greater than each of the other accumulated signal-to-noise ratios bymore than the difference threshold (Block 955 returns a result of YES).In the illustrated example of FIG. 8, the value “0x12” is returned forthe sixth symbol because the value “0x12” corresponds to the highestsignal-to-noise ratio as identified in (Block 950), and thissignal-to-noise ratio (e.g., 44 dB) is greater that each of the otheraccumulated signal-to-noise ratios (e.g., 16 dB corresponding to a valueof “0x11”, 15 dB corresponding to a value of “0x1A”) by more than thedifference threshold (e.g., 6 dB). The process of FIG. 9 is thencompleted, but may be repeated in accordance with the proceduresdescribed in connection with FIG. 6.

FIG. 10 is an example data table 1000 representing accumulated signal tonoise ratio values that may be used to perform signal to noise ratioarbitration for selection of the most likely symbol. In the illustratedexample of FIG. 10, seven columns 1010, 1020, 1030, 1040, 1050, 1060,1070 corresponding to the seven symbols 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360,370 of the watermark 300 are shown. The example data table 1000 of theillustrated example of FIG. 10 includes rows 1090 corresponding to eachof the values included in the example data table 800 FIG. 8. Each of thecells of the example data table 1000 of FIG. 10 correspond to theaccumulated signal-to-noise ratio identified in connection with block945 of FIG. 9. For example, in connection with the sixth symbol, anaccumulated signal-to-noise ratio of 44 dB for the value “12” is shownin the example data table 1000 of FIG. 10.

While in the illustrated example of FIG. 10 only rows corresponding tovalues present in the example data table 800 FIG. 8 are shown, inpractice, a row corresponding to each of the 128 possible values forsymbol may be used. Moreover, while in the illustrated example of FIG.10, columns 1010, 1020, 1030, 1040, 1050, 1060, 1070 corresponding toeach of the symbols 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360, 370 are shown, eachcolumn may be calculated only upon the need for the accumulatedsignal-to-noise ratio(s) for that symbol. That is, not all symbols willrequire execution of block 945 for identification of the most likelysymbol value. For example, the fifth symbol, which returned a value of“0x03” in each of the buffer positions, would not require calculation ofthe accumulated signal-to-noise ratio.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 1100 capableof executing the instructions of FIGS. 6, 7, and/or 9 to implement themeter 114 of FIGS. 1 and/or 2. The processor platform 1100 can be, forexample, a server, a personal computer, a mobile device (e.g., a cellphone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPad™), a personal digitalassistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, a DVD player, a CD player, adigital video recorder, a Blu-ray player, a gaming console, a personalvideo recorder, a set top box, or any other type of computing device.

The processor platform 1100 of the illustrated example includes aprocessor 1112. The processor 1112 of the illustrated example ishardware. For example, the processor 1112 can be implemented by one ormore integrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors or controllersfrom any desired family or manufacturer.

The processor 1112 of the illustrated example includes a local memory1113 (e.g., a cache). The example processor 1112 executes instructionsto implement the example symbol decoder 234, the example symbol bufferanalyzer 242, the example watermark constructor 246, the exampleaudience measurement data controller 250, and/or the example peopleidentifier 270. The processor 1112 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory including a volatile memory 1114 and anon-volatile memory 1116 via a bus 1118. The volatile memory 1114 may beimplemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), DynamicRandom Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM)and/or any other type of random access memory device. In the illustratedexample of FIG. 11, the volatile memory 1114 stores the symbol buffer238. However, any other memory device of the example processor platform1100 may additionally or alternatively store the example symbol buffer238. The non-volatile memory 1116 may be implemented by flash memoryand/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the mainmemory 1114, 1116 is controlled by a memory controller.

The processor platform 1100 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 1120. The interface circuit 1120 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 1122 are connectedto the interface circuit 1120. The input device(s) 1122 permit(s) a userto enter data and commands into the processor 1112. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, acamera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, atrack-pad, a trackball, isopoint and/or a voice recognition system. Inthe illustrated example of FIG. 11, the example input device(s) 1122implement the example audio receiver 220.

One or more output devices 1124 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 1120 of the illustrated example. The output devices 1124 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactileoutput device, a printer and/or speakers). The interface circuit 1120 ofthe illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics drivercard, a graphics driver chip or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 1120 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network1126 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.).

The processor platform 1100 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 1128 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 1128 include floppy disk drives,hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, RAIDsystems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives.

The coded instructions 1132 of FIGS. 6, 7, and/or 9 may be stored in themass storage device 1128, in the volatile memory 1114, in thenon-volatile memory 1116, and/or on a removable tangible computerreadable storage medium such as a CD or DVD. In the illustrated exampleof FIG. 11, the example mass storage device 1128 stores the data store255. However, any other memory device of the example processor platform1100 may additionally or alternatively store the example data store 255.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the above disclosedmethods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture facilitate symbol-basedwatermark detection. The example approaches disclosed herein enablewatermark detection that is more resilient to detection errors. Forexample, whereas in prior watermark detection systems, an entirewatermark would be discarded if any portion of the watermark was notconclusively identified, the infrequently changing nature of symbolswithin the watermark can be used to more reliably determine a value foreach symbol. More reliable detection of symbols and, more generically,watermarks, ensures that media monitoring data is not lost and/ormissing. Lost and/or missing media monitoring data is troublesomebecause it can compromise the integrity of media exposure metricsdetermined based on the media monitoring data. Ensuring that watermarksare more reliably identified by performing symbol-based analysis reducesthe amount of post-processing (e.g., interpolation between watermarks tosupplement missing watermarks) that must be performed when generatingmedia presentation metrics.

Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacturehave been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is notlimited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope ofthe claims of this patent.

1. A symbol-based watermark detection method comprising: determining afirst rate of occurrence of a first potential symbol value within ahistory of potential symbol values corresponding to a first symbolwithin a watermark; determining a second rate of occurrence of a secondpotential symbol value within the history of potential symbol valuescorresponding to the first symbol within the watermark; in response todetermining that the first rate of occurrence of the first potentialsymbol equals the second rate of occurrence of the second potentialsymbol, perform first operations including: determining a firstaccumulated signal to noise ratio value corresponding to occurrences ofthe first potential symbol value; determining a second accumulatedsignal to noise ratio value corresponding to occurrences of the secondpotential symbol value; and selecting, by executing an instruction witha processor of an audience measurement device, one of the firstpotential symbol value or the second potential symbol value having agreatest accumulated signal to noise ratio value as a likely symbolvalue for the first symbol; and concatenating the likely symbol valuewith other likely symbol values corresponding to other symbols of thewatermark to detect the watermark.
 2. The method of claim 1, furtherincluding populating a symbol buffer with the history of potentialsymbol values corresponding to the first symbol.
 3. The method of claim2, further including populating signal to noise ratio valuescorresponding to each of the potential symbol values in the symbolbuffer.
 4. The method of claim 2, further including storing six historicvalues of each symbol of the watermark in the symbol buffer.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first operations are performed inresponse to the determining that the first rate of occurrence equals thesecond rate of occurrence, and that the first rate of occurrence exceedsan occurrence threshold and that the second rate of occurrence exceedsthe occurrence threshold, and further including: in response todetermining that at least one of the first rate of occurrence or thesecond rate of occurrence does not meet the occurrence threshold:determining whether a pattern can be identified in the history ofpotential symbol values corresponding to the first symbol; and selectingone of the history of potential symbol values as the likely symbol valuewhen the pattern can be identified.
 6. The method of claim 5, whereinthe pattern is an incrementing value corresponding to incrementingtimestamps within data conveyed by the watermark.
 7. The method of claim5, wherein the selected one of the history of potential symbol values isa most recently identified symbol value that matches the pattern.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further including determining that the firstaccumulated signal to noise ratio value is greater than the secondaccumulated signal to noise ratio value by more than a signal to noisedifference threshold, and the first potential symbol value is selectedin response to the determination that the first accumulated signal tonoise ratio value is greater than the second accumulated signal to noiseratio value by more than the signal to noise difference threshold. 9.The method of claim 1, further including in response to one of the firstpotential symbol value or the second potential symbol value having agreatest rate of occurrence, selecting one of the first potential symbolvalue or the second potential symbol value having the greatest rate ofoccurrence as the likely symbol value.
 10. An apparatus of to performsymbol-based watermark detection, the apparatus comprising: a symbolbuffer analyzer to: determine a first rate of occurrence of a firstpotential symbol value within a history of potential symbol valuescorresponding to a first symbol within a watermark; determine a secondrate of occurrence of a second potential symbol value within the historyof potential symbol values corresponding to the first symbol within thewatermark; in response to a determination that the first rate ofoccurrence of the first potential symbol is the same as the second rateof occurrence of the second potential symbol: determine a firstaccumulated signal to noise ratio value corresponding to occurrences ofthe first potential symbol value; determine a second accumulated signalto noise ratio value corresponding to occurrences of the secondpotential symbol value; and select one of the first potential symbolvalue or the second potential symbol value having a greatest accumulatedsignal to noise ratio value as a likely symbol value for the firstsymbol; and a watermark constructor to concatenate the likely symbolvalue with other likely symbol values corresponding to other symbols ofthe watermark to detect the watermark.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10,further including a symbol buffer to store the history of the potentialsymbol values corresponding to the first symbol.
 12. The apparatus ofclaim 11, the symbol buffer is further to store signal to noise ratiovalues corresponding to each of the potential symbol values.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 11, the symbol buffer to store six values of historyof each symbol of the watermark.
 14. The apparatus of claim 10, whereinthe symbol buffer analyzer is further to: determine that at least one ofthe first rate of occurrence or the second rate of occurrence exceeds anoccurrence threshold; in response to the determination that the at leastone of the first rate of occurrence or the second rate of occurrencedoes not meet the occurrence threshold: determine whether a pattern canbe identified in the history of potential symbol values; and select oneof the history of potential symbol values as the most likely symbolvalue when the pattern can be identified.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14,wherein the pattern is an incrementing value corresponding toincrementing timestamps within data conveyed by the watermark.
 16. Theapparatus of claim 14, wherein the symbol buffer analyzer is further toselect one of the history of potential symbol values having a mostrecently identified symbol value that matches the pattern.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 10, wherein the symbol buffer analyzer is further todetermine that the first accumulated signal to noise ratio value isgreater than the second accumulated signal to noise ratio value by morethan a signal to noise difference threshold, and the symbol bufferanalyzer is to select the first potential symbol value in response tothe determination that the first accumulated signal to noise ratio valueis greater than the second accumulated signal to noise ratio value bymore than the signal to noise difference threshold.
 18. The apparatus ofclaim 10, the symbol buffer analyzer further to in response to one ofthe first potential symbol value or the second potential symbol valuehaving a greatest rate of occurrence, select one of the first potentialsymbol value or the second potential symbol value having the greatestrate of occurrence as the likely symbol value.
 19. A tangiblemachine-readable storage disk or storage device comprising instructionswhich, when executed, cause a machine to at least: determine a firstrate of occurrence of a first potential symbol value within a history ofpotential symbol values corresponding to a first symbol within awatermark; determine a second rate of occurrence of a second potentialsymbol value within the history of potential symbol values correspondingto the first symbol within the watermark; select one of the firstpotential symbol value or the second potential symbol value having thegreatest rate of occurrence as a likely symbol value; in response to thedetermination that the first rate of occurrence of the first potentialsymbol equals the second rate of occurrence of the second potentialsymbol: determine a first accumulated signal to noise ratio valuecorresponding to occurrences of the first potential symbol value;determine a second accumulated signal to noise ratio value correspondingto occurrences of the second potential symbol value; and select one ofthe first potential symbol value or the second potential symbol valuehaving a greatest accumulated signal to noise ratio value as the likelysymbol value; and concatenate the likely symbol value with other likelysymbol values corresponding to other symbols of the watermark to detectthe watermark.
 20. The tangible machine-readable storage disk or storagedevice of claim 19, wherein the instructions, when executed, furthercause the machine to populate a symbol buffer with the history ofpotential symbol values corresponding to the first symbol. 21-26.(canceled)